The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Safety is the most important aspect of any sport or activity. With particular regard to scuba diving, there are many inherent risks which must be managed to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for the participants. In this regard, one of the most important aspects of scuba diving is to ensure that all divers safely return to the Point of Entry (POE), such as a dive boat, for example.
The need for a scuba diver to be able to find and reach their POE is especially important in light of new technology such as electrically powered “tugs” which can take divers significantly further from their POE than would be otherwise possible. In situations where the diver is unable to return to their POE, the diver must perform an open water surfacing procedure. Such procedures are particularly dangerous, as the diver may not be equipped with a surface flag or other such device that notifies boat traffic of the location of the surfacing diver. As such, many accidents have occurred wherein a diver attempting to surface at a location other than their POE has been struck and killed by a passing boat.
Moreover, although scuba divers are taught to always swim in pairs, many divers routinely ignore this safety rule. As such, if a solo diver becomes lost and/or disoriented due to unexpected inclement weather, for example, and/or experiences a medical emergency, the diver currently has no way to notify others, including the dive boat, that he or she is in trouble.
Accordingly, the present invention directed to an underwater positioning system for scuba divers provides a new and innovative approach to alleviate the issues described above. The manner by which will become more apparent in the description which follows, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.